The Stun Spore Detour – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 30

Plot episodeMisty catches Poliwag

The Stun Spore Detour is the 30th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 110th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 112, Bulbapedia code EP110). It first aired in Japan on 26 August 1999 and in the United States on 16 September 2000. It falls within the season’s The last badge & the Winner’s Cup stretch (EP106–EP112).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Our heroes have stopped at a tiny Island so that Ash can prepare for the long awaited Orange League competition. Tracey is in the forest studying a Vileplume who he believes to be the most beautiful he’s ever seen when Ash approaches him and asks if he can help with his training, just then Ash trips on a rock and knocks Tracey into the top of the Vileplume before falling in himself, the Vileplume becomes panic’d and releases stun spore.

A few moments later Misty arrives to find Pikachu in a state of panic and trying to tell her something, then Ash and Tracey stagger out of the bushes and collapse while telling Misty what happened. The group don’t have any antidote for stun spore with them and Misty then discovers that the nearest Pokémon Center is 30 miles away and on an entirely different island, so she needs some other way to help Ash and Tracey who both have a terrible fever.

Tracey suggests Misty get out a Pokedex and look up Vileplume, and then look at stun spore antidotes, the Pokedex suggests that Salveo weed; a plant that grows on the bottom of clear lakes makes an effective antidote and she and Pikachu set off to find some. Pikachu stays behind to look after them.

Meanwhile Team Rocket are also on the Island and in a similar-ish predicament to Ash and the gang, Jessie is lying in a wooden hut on the shore with a high fever which was also caused by a Vileplume’s stun spore. James and Meowth bring her a bright red apple at her request, when they ask why she wanted it she said it’s so that when she awakes from her fevered sleep she can see something with skin even redder than hers. James remembers that his grandpa once made an antidote to stun spore out of Salveo weed which cured him right away when he was a tot, so he and Meowth set out to find some.

Misty at this point has begun her search in any bodies of water she can find but hasn’t had much luck yet. James and Meowth are searching too when James recalls his grandpa using a Poliwag to find the weed when he needed it, they spot one and James sends Victreebel to attack it, Meowth then catches the Poliwag under a basket briefly but it throws him off and runs away. Misty is nearby and then bumps into Poliwag, and Team Rocket are just behind – they demand Misty give them the Poliwag.

A confrontation ensues and James and Meowth decide to battle Misty, James sends his Victreebel against Misty’s Goldeen, which makes surprisingly quick work of Victreebel considering it’s type disadvantage. James then sends out Weezing and Misty responds with Staryu who quickly prevails, Meowth then attacks and Misty sends out Psyduck, Meowth scratches and bites Psyduck and quickly gives it a terrible headache, Psyduck uses its confusion attack and sends James and Meowth flying.

Misty treats the Poliwag with some Pokémon cream, as it sustained minor injuries when Victreebel and Meowth attacked it. Misty asks the Poliwag to help her find the Salveo weed, Poliwag quickly dives to the bottom of a nearby lake and brings some to Misty, who responds by calling out Staryu, dives into the lake and gathers some Salveo weed.

James and Meowth have lined the road ahead with fancy tea sets, dresses, makeup etc to try and get Misty to fall into a trap. Misty resists all of them, knowing she should probably get back to Ash and Tracey asap. James and Meowth aren’t done yet however and disguise themselves as a mother (James) and baby (Meowth), claiming the baby has inhaled stunspore, Meowth accidentally gives away who they are however and they again confront Misty, immediately sending out Weezing to attack and stating that they need the Salveo weed for Jessie. The Poliwag who helped Misty find the Salveo weed steps in and beats Weezing away with it’s double slap attack.

Just as James and Meowth are reaching a state of despair that they can’t get any Salveo weed to help Jessie, they see a bunch of it in the middle of the road that Misty left for them (despite their repeated attempts to steal it). Misty arrives back at the hut in the woods and begins to boil up the Salveo weed giving both Ash and Tracey a cup, meanwhile James and Meowth have done the same for Jessie.

After James and Meowth explain that Misty was the one who gave them the Salveo weed to help her, she concludes that Misty must have been alone because Ash and Tracey were stunned and she presses James and Meowth to go and attack them now. James and Meowth however haven’t forgotten Misty’s kindness and don’t particularly want to attack her/her friends this time. A short while later the antidote has worked on Ash and Tracey, Jessie sends Arbok bursting through the wooden cabin’s wall to attack them. James and Meowth hide behind a rock and aren’t forthcoming in helping her. Jessie’s Arbok is quickly dispatched by Pikachu and the two are collapsed and defeated. James and Meowth tell her she has a terrible case of “ingratitude” and carry her off, shouting their thanks to Misty once more.

Poliwag seems to have decided to stick with Misty, so she has a new friend and a new Pokémon, aswell as the gratitude of Ash and Tracey. And so with renewed strength in body and in spirit, Ash and his friends head for the Orange League.

Major Events

• Misty catches Poliwag
• Misty rescues the Stun Spore-paralysed Ash and Tracey
• Goldeen’s only on-screen win
• Meowth fills in for Jessie in the motto

Captures and evolutions

• Poliwag#0060 · Misty

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Orange Islands storyline.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Poliwag in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Dragonair in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• A 6-second sequence of Jessie and Meowth kicking James cut to its final second plus looping impact stars
• Fury Swipes called “Scratch”; an unusually faithful translation

Part of our Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.